Is the wife named as a joint registered proprietor on the registered legal title to the property, or has she simply contributed to the mortgage repayments without actually receiving an express registered interest in the property?

Hello TomThe wife is not named on the mortgage but she has contributed to all the payments for 15 years. The debt is £12000 owed to the bank and was an unsecured loan originally but the bank applied to have it declared interest on the property which I signed. They are now saying they may force a sale.

Right. There is no automatic right for you to prevent the order for sale I'm afraid.

In the event that a creditor of your husbands obtains judgement at Court on the debt owed to them by your husband then they may seek to enforce the judgement by apply to Court for a charging order over your property which if registered as a final charging order (after first being registered as an interim charging order) would prevent the sale of the property without the debt to which the charging order relates being paid off.

The creditor and beneficiary of the charging order could apply to the Court for an order for the sale of the property to recover his money. Your husband would obviously be informed of any such application and you would both make representations as to why the order should not be made. These orders are considered only as a ultimate sanction by the Court and they have very wide discretion to to consider your welfare and housing requirements and those of your children (if any) and a number of factors are considered (size of debt, repayment suggestions, whether the debt will actually be repaid from the proceeds of sale, the fact that is his and your home).

An application/order to force the sale of the home from the date of the original charging order application would take a number of months in any event (if any such order were even granted) and they would certainly take into account your housing requirements (either to stay there or the time required to seek alternative accommodation).

If you are concerned that your husband will not inform you of the application for a charging order then you should speak to a local conveyancing/family solicitor about registering a home rights notice against the legal title, this will inform you of any such application so that you can engage in the process.

I'm very sorry it could not be better news, I hope you are able to appreciate that there is little point in my sugar coating your position for you.

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